Italian men seem to value flirtatiousness over brutishness

The stereotype Tony Soprano created of Italian men is all wrong, according to a new study to be published in Psychology of Men and Masculinity this fall. Although the television character is a patriarchal brute, researchers at the University of Missouri at Columbia found that Italian male college students are less likely than their American counterparts to subscribe to ''traditional" beliefs that men are more masculine if they are competitive, violent, dominant, or engage in risky behavior. But the 152 Italian men surveyed overwhelmingly subscribed to the belief that being a ''playboy," or flirt, is a truer sign of masculinity. The 752 American men were more likely to think that power over women is a sign of masculinity. The study also found that holding to traditional norms about masculinity -- a la Tony Soprano -- is associated with a lower chance of having positive personal relationships.

KADESHA THOMAS